No let-up in Telstra campaign

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TELSTRA says the Government's telecommunications regulations
leave it carrying the can for every operator in the industry and
warns, "this simply cannot go on indefinitely".

The warning comes in comments by Michael Lawrey, the head of
Telstra's network services, on the annual quality of service report
released yesterday by the newly formed Australian Communications
and Media Authority.

The tenor of the campaign by Telstra chief executive Sol
Trujillo and chief operations officer Greg Winn to get their views
across to Communications Minister Helen Coonan, and Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel is
evident in the tone of the statement.

"Telstra's competitors continue to be encouraged simply to
resell Telstra' s network rather than contribute in any real sense
to maintenance or investment in new services such as broadband," Mr
Lawrey said.

The ACMA report gives the industry generally a clean bill of
health, noting improvements in providing connections and effecting
repairs. Both Telstra and Optus "consistently completed 90 per cent
or more of Customer Service Guarantee eligible connections and
fault repairs within the required time frames", the report
says.

Faults on Telstra lines increased by 2 per cent in 2004-05
compared with the previous 12 months but repairs made on time
improved from 91 per cent to 92 per cent.